A week of temporary single motherhood

Hubster has been called upon to serve a tour of duty in Westmont, NJ for work, lasting a week. (This is in the part of New Jersey that wants to be Philadelphia. There are three parts of New Jersey. The part that wants to be Philly, the part that is AC, and the part that wants to be New York.) He departed yesterday morning and will be gone until Wednesday night.

Can I just tell you, that being a single mom SUCKS? Thank God I don't have to work a real paying job like real life single moms do. I couldn't hack it. Phat mad props to the real single moms out there, you ladies are amazing. That being said, I will now commence to whine and moan about my week thus far.

Jackson is an 11 am pooper. Once a day, around 11, he becomes Captain Stinky McPoopypants. Like clockwork. No big deal. It's reliable, I kind of like it. I know that with his 2nd diaper change, I put a flushable liner in his diaper and that helps me wrangle the turds that will soon appear. This is true for every single day, except yesterday. Yesterday there was an 11 am poop. And a 2 pm poop. And then, for good measure, a 8 pm poop. You know, just because he wasn't sure if I had seen enough baby poop that day. Needless to say, I was not pleased.

And then there's the talking and explaining. He asks me, "Durka durka la Dada?" and I know he is asking where his father is. I try to explain that Daddy had to take a trip and he will be back in seven sleeps. As you may guess, this is a difficult concept for a 17 month old to grasp (this is when we all together gasp and say, "Holy cow, he's almost a year and a half already????!!!!!!).

Besides helping out with Jackson when I need to go to the bathroom, cook dinner or do the dishes, Daddy fulfills many other important roles. For example, some nights Jackson wants to snuggle in Mommy's chest pillows to fall asleep, and sometimes he wants to snuggle into Daddy's fur. Daddy is the official purveyor of fine bathing expeditions in our house. Tim chose bathtime as his part of our bedtime routine back about 13 months ago (when we started having a bedtime routine). He has mastered the delicate balance of bubble bath to water ratio, knows which duckies are the preferred ones and has really polished his Bathketball 3 point shot to perfection. Dada is also in charge of all shoulder rides/swinging around/swinging upside down/swinging the baby in the air and give Mommy a heart attack maneuvers. I don't do upside down. Just...no. I wear him on my back and that's about it. He's 30 pounds. There is no indoor gymnastics going on here.

So...how will this week end? Will Mommy keep her sanity? Will the dishes ever get done? Who will take the trash out next Tuesday night? Can Jackson survive an entire week without being tossed into the air or going on a shoulder ride? Will Mommy suck at Bathketball, or will it be nothing but net? To find out all this and more, stay tuned...